White noise vs brown noise for tinnitus: how to pick one
No study shows that white noise or brown noise does more for tinnitus than the other, so the choice comes down to two things you can judge for yourself: the pitch of your own ringing, and what you can stand having on for hours. Many people find that a thin, high ring sits nearer the bright hiss of white or pink noise, while a low hum or buzz sits nearer the deep rumble of brown noise. A lot of people never settle the question and use rain instead, which is gentler company late at night. The Slo player is free in a browser with no account, so comparing them costs you a couple of minutes. None of this changes the tinnitus itself. It changes what else is in the room.
Is brown noise good for tinnitus?
Plenty of people with tinnitus play brown noise at night and are glad they found it. Nothing in the research shows it does anything to the ringing, and the same goes for sound therapy in general: when researchers pooled the controlled trials in 2018, they could not show sound therapy beating a waiting list, a placebo, or an explanation with no device at all, and they rated even that finding low quality. Those trials used clinical hearing aids and sound generators, so they neither back nor rule out what you play from a phone.
What brown noise has going for it is that it’s easy to live with. It’s a deep rumble, like a plane cabin or a waterfall heard through a wall, and many people can leave that running for eight hours without tiring of it. The catch is pitch. Brown noise puts almost all of its sound down in the rumble, so if your tinnitus is a thin, high ring, a quiet brown noise can leave that ring perfectly clear. Turning it up rarely fixes that, and it makes your ears work harder for nothing. Try white or pink noise at the same low level instead, since both carry far more of the bright hiss your ringing sits near.
Start from what your tinnitus sounds like
People tend to get on best with the sound closest in pitch to their own ringing. That’s what listeners report, not clinical advice, and nobody can pick a frequency for you. Slo has no tinnitus frequency matching, and a page that named a number for your ears would be inventing it. As a starting point:
- A thin, high ring or a hiss: begin with white noise, and move to pink noise if white feels harsh after half an hour.
- A low hum, buzz or throb: begin with brown noise.
- Not sure, or both of those wear you out: begin with rain.
Hear them side by side
Two minutes of listening will settle this faster than any description. Play each one at the level you would actually use at night, and give it thirty seconds before you decide anything.
White noise is an even hiss, like air escaping or a shower running behind a door, and it’s the brightest of the four. Pink noise is that hiss with the sharp top edge taken off, which is why many listeners find it softer over a long evening. Brown noise drops most of the way down into the rumble. Gentle rain is mostly hiss as well, but it moves, and those small changes are what some people like about it and others find distracting.
Whichever one you stop hearing first is your answer. That’s a preference, and it’s the only honest measure this page can offer you.
How to judge it over a week
Give one sound a full week before you switch. Set the same low volume every night, keep the timer at the same length, and change nothing else, because swapping tracks each evening turns the sound itself into the thing you lie there studying.
In the morning, ask two questions and leave it there. Did the ringing get in your way while you were settling? Did you notice the sound playing at all? A sound you keep hearing is either the wrong one for you or set too loud. If a week goes by and bedtime feels no easier, stop tuning it and ask an audiologist what else is worth trying.
What this page doesn’t cover
Tinnitus tends to stand out most once the room falls quiet and there’s nothing left to hold your attention, which is why so many people meet it at midnight. Why tinnitus is more noticeable at night goes through what the health authorities actually say about that.
How loud to set it is its own subject, and the short version is to keep it quiet enough that you could talk over it. Sound masking for tinnitus explains what a background sound does and where the evidence stops. For the timer, the layering and the rest of the evening around it, how to sleep with tinnitus walks through a routine you can test.
If you want the plain acoustics of each color without the tinnitus angle, the guide to noise colors covers them.
When a doctor matters more than a sound
Slo is a player, not a medical device, and it doesn’t diagnose or treat anything. The US National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders says to start with your regular doctor, who can check whether earwax or an ear infection is behind it. Don’t sit on it if the ringing came on suddenly, if it’s in one ear only, if it pulses along with your heartbeat, or if your hearing has dropped. And if the ringing has been wearing you down for months, ask an audiologist about cognitive behavioral therapy, which carries stronger clinical backing than sound does.
Questions people ask
Which is better for tinnitus, white noise or brown noise?
Neither one wins in the research. Many people find that a high, thin ring suits the brighter hiss of white or pink noise, and a low hum suits brown noise, so start from whichever your own ringing sounds closer to and keep the one you get tired of last.
Is brown noise good for tinnitus?
It’s a popular choice, because a deep rumble is easy to leave on all night, but nothing shows it changes the ringing. It is the weaker pick for a high-pitched ring, since brown noise puts almost no sound up where that ring sits.
Why can’t I hear brown noise over my ringing?
Because the ring is probably far higher in pitch than anything brown noise produces. Leave the volume where it is and try white or pink noise instead, which both carry plenty of bright hiss.
Should I try pink noise or rain instead?
Plenty of people do. Pink noise is white noise with the harsh top edge taken off, and rain is mostly hiss with movement in it. Both sit closer to a high ring than brown noise does, and many people find them easier company at two in the morning.
Can I play white and brown noise together?
Yes. The Slo browser mixer runs both at once, and you can set each one lower than you would on its own. Keep it to a couple of layers and keep the total quiet enough to talk over.
How long should I give one sound before deciding?
About a week, at the same volume every night. Two minutes tells you which one you find pleasant. Only several nights tell you which one you stop noticing.
Read next
- Sound masking for tinnitus explains what masking is, what people do with it, and where the evidence stops.
Sources
- Cochrane review of sound therapy for tinnitus, Sereda and colleagues 2018: CD013094
- Tinnitus page at the US National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
Explore more sounds in Slo
Stack two or three sounds, keep the blend, and let the timer stop it. Slo, on iOS, Android and Mac.
